Beginning on April 7, four unidentified numbers messaged threats to Naaif following the publication of an article by Naaif the day before, according to a statement by the Maldives Journalists Association, screenshots of the messages reviewed by CPJ, and a person familiar with the threats, who spoke to CPJ by phone on the condition of anonymity due to fear of reprisal.
Two of those numbers also messaged threats to Zahir, and one of them called him.
The journalists began receiving the threats after Ahmed Siyam Mohamed, a member of the Maldives parliament who leads the Maldives Development Alliance minor party and whose business was the focus of the article, called Zahir, the managing editor of the privately owned website Dhauru, on April 7 and ordered him to remove the article, stating that it was the “final warning,” according to those sources.
Naaif, a senior reporter for Dhauru and secretary-general of the Maldives Journalists Association, received one message reviewed by CPJ that ordered him to leave the country within five days or “we will make you suffer and finish you.”
“The Maldives press remains haunted by the history of deadly violence against journalists in the country. Authorities must take the threats against journalists Ahmed Naaif and Ahmed Zahir seriously, hold the perpetrators accountable, and ensure their safety,” said Beh Lih Yi, CPJ’s Asia program coordinator. “In the run-up to the country’s September 2023 presidential election, journalists must have the freedom to safely and independently report on political matters of public interest.”
Naaif’s article analyzed the failure of Sun Travels and Tours Private Limited, a company owned by Mohamed, to pay $24 million to Hilton International following an arbitration ruling about a contract dispute. Mohamed’s party recently formed a coalition with the current Maldives government led by President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih ahead of the country’s national election in September 2023.
On April 7, Naaif filed a complaint with the Maldives police, but police have made no arrests as of April 11, according to the person who spoke to CPJ.
Maldives Police Commissioner Mohamed Hameed told CPJ via messaging app that the investigation was ongoing. When reached by phone, Ahmed Siyam Mohamed declined to comment, saying he was out of the country.
Maldivian blogger and reporter Ahmed Rilwan Abdulla and blogger and satirist Yameen Rasheed received death threats prior to their killings in 2014 and 2017, respectively.
Editor’s note: The second paragraph of this report has been updated to correct the description of how the threats were sent to Naaif. The fourth paragraph has been changed to reflect the focus of Naaif’s article.
On the evening of Thursday, March 16, Maldives police assaulted and arrested Juman, a reporter for the privately owned news website Avas, while he covered a rally by supporters of the opposition Progressive Party of Maldives in the capital city of Malé, according to a tweet by the Maldives Journalists Association and the journalist, who spoke with CPJ by phone.
Authorities released him without charge on Friday afternoon, following an order by the Maldives Criminal Court. Juman told CPJ that he did not know if police intended to file charges against him in the future.
“Maldives authorities must swiftly investigate the police assault of journalist Hussain Juman and hold the officers responsible to account,” said Beh Lih Yi, CPJ’s Asia program coordinator. “In the run-up to September’s presidential election, Maldives authorities must ensure the media can cover political rallies without fear of being targeted or assaulted. Journalists are doing their jobs to keep voters informed.”
Protesters had gathered calling for the release of PPM leader Abdulla Yameen, who was sentenced to 11 years in prison on corruption and money laundering charges in December.
Juman was filming the rally when police shoved him to the ground and threw his phone away, according to a video of the incident posted to Twitter and the journalist, who said he sustained injuries to his chest, shoulder, and back.
Juman was held in an overcrowded cell with around 12 others in the Malé custodial detention center before being presented in the Maldives Criminal Court on Friday afternoon, he said.
At that hearing, state lawyers asked the court to extend Juman’s detention for 15 days pending an investigation into allegations that he disturbed police functions and physically assaulted officers at the rally, Juman told CPJ.
After reviewing the video of officers assaulting Juman, the court denied the state lawyers’ request due to insufficient evidence and ordered his immediate release, he said.
Maldives Police Commissioner Mohamed Hameed told CPJ by phone that police will conduct an internal inquiry into the assault and arrest of Juman, and will determine whether he will be charged.
Police assaulted two journalists last month while they covered political protests near the parliament building. The parliament is currently considering an amendment that would restrict journalists’ ability to cover elections.
]]>On Monday, March 13, the Maldives parliament opened debate regarding an amendment to the country’s General Elections Act proposed in mid-February by a lawmaker with the ruling Maldivian Democratic Party, which would allow only journalists working for media outlets registered with the government and approved by the Election Commission to report from voting and vote-counting sites on election days, according to multiple news reports and Ahmed Naaif, secretary-general of the Maldives Journalists Association, who spoke with CPJ by phone.
The proposed amendment would not permit freelance or foreign journalists to report from those sites. The amendment will be reviewed by a parliamentary committee before coming to a vote, Naaif told CPJ.
The Maldives’ next presidential election is set for September.
“The proposed amendment to the Maldives’ General Elections Act restricting journalists’ ability to cover elections will, if enacted, undermine democratic principles and the public’s fundamental right to information,” said Beh Lih Yi, CPJ’s Asia program coordinator. “Maldives lawmakers should reject or revise the proposed amendment in consultation with civil society groups and journalists and do everything in their power to ensure that the press can freely and safely report on the upcoming presidential election in September.”
In a statement, the Maldives Journalists Association and Transparency Maldives, the national chapter of the anti-corruption group Transparency International, also expressed concern over the amendment.
In July 2022, CPJ joined civil society organizations in a statement calling on the Maldives government to repeal or amend a provision of the Evidence Act allowing courts to compel journalists and news organizations to reveal their sources on the basis of vague and overly broad terms of “terrorism” and “national security.” The act came into effect in January 2023, according to news reports and Naaif.
Maldives presidential spokesperson Miuvan Mohamed did not respond to CPJ’s request for comment sent via messaging app. The secretariat of the Maldives parliament did not respond to CPJ’s emailed request for comment.
[Editors’ Note: The second, third, and seventh paragraphs were updated with the correct spelling of Naaif’s name.]
]]>On the morning of Monday, February 6, police officers assaulted Shaheed, a reporter and videographer for the privately owned broadcaster Channel 13, and Misbaah, a camera operator for Channel 13, while they were covering protests near the country’s parliament, according to news reports and Channel 13 station manager Ibrahim Saeed, who spoke with CPJ via messaging app.
Protests broke out near the parliament building on Monday calling for the release of the opposition leader and former president, Abdulla Yameen, who was recently sentenced to 11 years in prison on money laundering and corruption charges, and ahead of President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih’s final address ahead of elections in September.
Police charged at the protesters, and while doing so pepper-sprayed Shaheed and hit him with a shield, pushing him to the ground and knocking him unconscious, according to Saeed and a video of the incident posted to Twitter. Officers shoved Misbaah to the ground and stepped on him, according to those sources.
“Maldives authorities must investigate the police assault of journalists Hassan Shaheed and Ahmed Misbaah and hold the officers responsible to account,” said Beh Lih Yi, CPJ’s Asia program coordinator. “Police must respect the right of journalists to freely and safely report on events of public interest ahead of the upcoming presidential election in September.”
In that video of Shaheed being pushed to the ground, he can be seen carrying a camera and wearing his press pass around his neck.
Misbaah received treatment for injuries to his stomach and Shaheed remains under medical observation as doctors suspect he received a brain hemorrhage and spinal injuries, Saeed said.
Maldives Police Commissioner Mohamed Hameed told CPJ by phone that police are conducting an internal review into the incident involving Shaheed, and denied that the journalist was pushed or sustained a head injury. Hameed said he was unaware of the incident involving Misbaah.
]]>President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih ratified the bill on July 18, following its passage by the country’s parliament on June 30, according to news reports. In October 2021, CPJ called on Maldives legislators to reject the problematic provision.
Journalists who refuse to disclose a source upon court order can be found in contempt, and face up to three months in prison and a fine, the statement says. The groups expressed concern that the act, which will become enforceable within six months of its ratification, will have a chilling effect on the work of journalists investigating and reporting on human rights violations, corruption, and abuse of power by state authorities.
Read the full statement here.
]]>The bill, which CPJ reviewed, includes a broad provision allowing courts to order outlets and journalists to reveal anonymous sources when a court decides that the “public interest of revealing a journalist’s source” outweighs “the negative impact on the source or others” as well as “the ability of journalists to continue to find factual sources of information and bring such information to the public.”
On August 30, the government of President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih sent the bill to the People’s Majlis, the country’s legislative body, according to news reports.
“The Maldives’ proposed Evidence Bill would, as written, create an unfortunate opening for courts to force journalists to reveal sources in a potentially grave threat to press freedom,” said Steven Butler, CPJ’s Asia program coordinator. “Legislators must drop or amend the problematic provision of the bill and allow journalists to continue reporting in confidence that sources will not suffer consequences by talking to them.”
While Article 136(a) of the proposed bill affirms a section of the Maldives Constitution providing that “No person shall be compelled to disclose the source of any information that is espoused, disseminated, or published by that person,” Article 136(b) of the bill includes the exceptions granting courts the power to compel such information, according to CPJ’s review of the text.
The legislation will undergo a preliminary debate in the People’s Majlis before it is referred to a committee for research and review, according to Junayd Saleem, a Reuters journalist and Maldives correspondent for the press freedom group Reporters Without Borders, who spoke with CPJ via messaging app. If the legislature passes the bill, President Solih could then sign it into law, he said, adding that no timeline for the legislation had been made public.
Attorney General Ibrahim Riffath has agreed to work with the People’s Majlis during the committee stage to amend the problematic provision, according to a press release published by his office and Saleem. CPJ emailed Riffath’s office for comment but did not receive any reply.
CPJ also emailed the Secretariat of the People’s Majlis for comment, but did not receive any reply.
]]>On September 1, Husnu Al Suood, the head of the presidential commission on enforced disappearances and murders, told reporters that Rilwan, a reporter for the independent news website Minivan News, had been killed by a local Al-Qaeda affiliate in 2014, according to news reports.
Rilwan had been missing since August 7, 2014, according to CPJ research. The commission found that members of the extremist group executed Rilwan on a ship on August 8 for his writing about alleged Al-Qaeda links in the Maldives and his advocacy for freedom of expression, according to those reports.
“We are deeply saddened by news of Ahmed Rilwan Abdulla’s murder and, while we are encouraged by the progress in the investigations, five years is far too long to await justice,” said Aliya Iftikhar, CPJ’s senior Asia researcher. “We urge Maldivian authorities to see this through and swiftly prosecute all those involved in Rilwan’s killing, including those who organized and financed it as well as authorities who were complicit or negligent.”
The commission identified several individuals suspected of involvement in Rilwan’s abduction, killing, and subsequent government interference in the case, according to a report by Rilwan’s employer, which has since changed its name to The Maldives Independent. Suood’s press conference was the first public acknowledgement of the presence of terrorist-affiliated groups in the Maldives, according to that report.
The commission asked the prosecutor general’s office to appeal the 2018 acquittals of two suspects charged over the abduction, given the new evidence, according to the Independent.
Suood also recommended obstruction of justice charges be filed against former Vice President Ahmed Adeeb for allegedly intervening to release two suspects involved in Rilwan’s disappearance, and also said the commission found evidence that former President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom tried to “divert the focus of the police investigation,” but said there was not enough evidence to recommend charges, the Independent reported.
Yameen’s lawyer dismissed allegations of undue interference, and Adeeb has previously denied any involvement in Rilwan’s case, according to Al Jazeera.
Earlier this year, Suood told CPJ during a mission to the Maldives that Rilwan’s killing was masterminded by the same group behind the 2017 killing of Yameen Rasheed, a journalist who led a campaign seeking information on Rilwan’s disappearance.
]]>March 27, 2019
Via admin@majlis.gov.mv
Dear Speaker Qasim Ibrahim,
We at the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), an independent press freedom advocacy organization, are writing to urge you to strengthen press freedom and commit to pursuing justice and ending impunity by calling for a vote on the bill to grant investigative powers to the presidential commission on enforced disappearances and murders. A broad coalition of civil society members and the families of those involved have called for this vote and we write to offer our support for those efforts. CPJ was heartened to see an improving press freedom environment in the Maldives during our mission to the capital last month and we believe it can improve even further if this commission is able to successfully carry out its mission.
The commission was announced on the first day of President Ibrahim Solih’s administration and the bill, proposed by the government in November, would grant that commission investigative powers. Recently, you have raised concerns about the constitutionality of the bill, though in December you said there were no legal obstacles because it had been cleared by the counsel-general.
This bill represents an essential step in the pursuit of justice for crimes committed against journalists in the Maldives, yet three previous attempts at holding a vote on the bill could not take place due to a lack of quorum.
The Maldives cannot achieve its goals of a democratic and just society if impunity reigns in cases of religiously motivated attacks targeting writers. According to the commission’s chair, Husnu Al Suood, the attempted assassination of Ismail Khilath Rasheed (also known as Hilath), the murder of Afrasheem Ali, the abduction of Ahmed Rilwan Abdulla, and the murder of Yameen Rasheed were all connected and orchestrated by a religious militant group that had gang connections. If the government had taken action against Hilath’s attackers, Suood said the subsequent attacks could have been prevented. Prosecuting and holding the perpetrators accountable is imperative to preventing any future attacks and lifting the climate of fear for writers.
Given the lack of due process and the documented police negligence and judicial interference in the aforementioned cases, it is crucial that the parliament approves investigative powers for the commission for it to be able to carry out its mission in an efficient and effective way. As a democratically elected representative of the people of the Maldives, you owe it to your constituents to allow a vote on the bill.
We urge you to bring the bill back onto the agenda and to hold a vote prior to the upcoming parliamentary elections.
We look forward to your response.
Sincerely,
Steven Butler
Asia Program Coordinator
Committee to Protect Journalists
]]>In her pink hijab and floral dress, Fathimath Shehenaz was easy to spot in the small crowd of protesters gathered outside the Malé parliament building, carrying signs emblazoned with #FindMoyameeha and #WeAreYaamyn. Shehenaz has been a mainstay at these protests, as she seeks answers to the abduction of her brother, Ahmed Rilwan, five years ago.
On the afternoon that we met at the protest, parliament had refused–for the fourth time–to vote on a bill to give investigative powers to a newly formed presidential commission on enforced disappearances and murders.
The commission has brought hope that justice will be served in several cases in the Maldives, including those of Rilwan and Yameen Rasheed, a blogger murdered in April 2017. However, without parliamentary approval of the investigative powers, the commission will be unable to work independently of the police and judiciary.
At roughly 2.5 square miles and with a population of about 142,000, Malé is the epicenter of politics, finance, and commerce in a nation comprised of 1,190 small islands and sandbanks. Given its small population, the attacks on Rilwan and Rasheed shook the city, both for their brazenness and violent nature. Through marches, campaigns, and protests, their families have ensured that the journalists’ names were not forgotten, and their cases became political campaign issues. As a presidential candidate, Ibrahim Mohamed Solih met both families last year, and promised to open investigations.
“We fought for this justice, and that is the only reason we’re talking about this, even after five years,” Rilwan’s brother, Moosa, told me. “If we had been silent, there wouldn’t even be a commission to investigate these things.”
At her home in the capital, Rilwan’s mother, Aminath Easa, said she was optimistic about the new commission and could see that it was trying, unlike under the past administration, whose officials never came to meet her and did not conduct a thorough investigation.
“I just want to know what happened, if he’s dead or alive,” Easa said, with tears in her eyes.
The commission was announced on Solih’s first day in office in November. His was a surprise win. His party–the Maldivian Democratic Party–first came to power in 2008 in the country’s first democratically held elections, but a coup in 2012 ousted the elected president. The following year, Abdulla Yameen Abdulla Gayoom came to office, bringing in a period of authoritative rule during which journalists were attacked and defamation cases threatened to send them to jail and their outlets into bankruptcy.
During this period, religiously motivated attacks targeted writers who were popular on social media, including blogger and former editor of Haveeru, Ismail Khilath Rasheed (known as Hilath), who survived an attempt on his life in June 2012; Afrasheem Ali, a former member of parliament, killed in October 2012; Rilwan; and Yameen Rasheed.
The attacks were connected, Husnu Al Suood, former attorney general and president of the commission, told me in his office. What did the four share in common? All spoke about social issues, human rights, and religion. And all were popular, with large followings, typically online. The attacks were masterminded by one group and were motivated by religious, militant elements, with gang involvement, Suood said, without naming the group.
The government was aware of the group as early as 2011, but failed to go after them for political reasons, Suood said, adding that the people were targeted over their writing. Aside from Saudi Arabia, the Maldives is one of the only other countries that bills itself as “100 percent Islamic.” Religion is an extremely sensitive topic, and politicians have historically kowtowed to sheikhs and religious leaders to help their political image.
“There was an identified group and the state knew that … and had they stopped or investigated and prosecuted the people behind Rilwan’s case then Yameen Rasheed’s would not have occurred,” he said. “Even in Hilath’s case, no action was taken at that time.” Suood added, “Had they stopped that in 2012, even Afrasheem’s case I doubt could have happened.”
During our meeting at the president’s office, Ibrahim Hood, the president’s chief communications strategist, said, “One of the reasons these groups thrive is the laissez-faire approach that has been taken with regards to them.” He added, “I think they had state protection. I don’t know whether it was deliberate or some kind of implicit arrangement of ‘these are the boundaries.’ We’ve taken a more no-nonsense approach. It’s no longer a free-for-all.”
Extremists have been more influential and growing in number, Rilwan’s brother, Moosa, said. Politicians use religion as a tool to achieve their agendas and get power, but they’re also afraid of them, he said.
Rilwan was a reporter for Minivan News (now the Maldives Independent), but he was better known for his blog where he was known as “Moyameehaa” or “madman” and wrote about social issues, human rights, and religion. Moosa remembers him as fun-loving, friendly, and kind. Two weeks before his abduction, he published a story about Maldivians leaving to fight for the extremist group Islamic State in Syria.
The state’s negligence in investigating Rilwan’s abduction has been well-documented, with a court last year reprimanding authorities when it acquitted two suspects. The complicity and involvement of authorities have also been established. Police surveilled Rilwan and there was interference in the investigation that followed, Suood said, adding that a suspect managed to flee to Syria, with help from authorities.
The former government has denied involvement. The Foreign Ministry told a U.N. working group on enforced disappearances that authorities rejected the allegations of responsibility or involvement.
In Rilwan’s case, Suood said, the commission has established a motive, something that had previously evaded authorities. He declined to elaborate, saying the information would be released in a report when the commission completes its investigation.
The current acting police commissioner, Mohamed Hameed, told me that police will review and take action against anyone named in that report as being complicit or negligent in the investigation.
One of the most active voices in pursuing justice for Rilwan was Rasheed, whose website, The Daily Panic, providing satirical social and political commentary. He was stabbed to death more than 36 times in the stairwell of his apartment building. Seven suspects were arrested and a trial started 18 months ago. Initially held in secret, the trial has been opened up, but the number of people allowed to attend is limited and no hearing has been held in nearly four months, Rasheed’s sister, Aisha, said.
“Yameen was relentless in pursuing Rilwan’s case, and it is very difficult, even if you look at Yameen’s case, for people to be continuously asking questions, fighting for justice, because everyone has their own life, but Yameen did that,” Aisha Rasheed said.
What is sad, she said, is the narrative created around bloggers–that they are atheist or irreligious– tarnishes their image and is used to justify the attacks.
In Rasheed’s case, authorities were also accused of negligence, though the civil court threw out a case filed by the family in 2017.
Aisha Rasheed, who previously worked in the police forensics department, said she saw discrepancies in the way the investigation was being carried out almost immediately, noting that the crime scene was processed in less than two hours.
“I know the procedures they have to follow. I didn’t feel they were doing that,” she said. “There was massive negligence on the police side, whether they admit it or not.”
By the time she and her family had returned from Rasheed’s funeral, the walls had been painted over, almost like nothing had happened just hours prior.
Suood said there was less indication of state-involvement in Rasheed’s case. But Aisha Rasheed said she finds that hard to believe, especially because authorities were aware of threats on her brother’s life. “I believe this is just the tip of the iceberg and that there is a huge organization behind this that is targeting people, training people, and radicalizing them,” she said. “The people at the top, they enjoy impunity.”
“[Rasheed] was outspoken, he didn’t mince words, he was brave … and he had mass appeal, he could communicate with a lot of people,” she said. “Of course he was afraid of the death threats, but it was more important to him to have a conscience than to bow down.”
“I think they wanted to make an example out of him … People are very afraid, because anything is possible in this country,” she said. “When they couldn’t win at words, they silenced him.”
Rilwan’s abduction also hangs over his former colleagues at the Maldives Independent. “I think we unconsciously dropped certain stories, and we began asking if it was worth it to put reporters at risk,” Ahmed Naish, the acting editor, said
Suood told CPJ that he was confident that the commission will bring the cases to prosecution. He said he believes the investigation already has enough new evidence in Rilwan’s case to appeal the acquittal last year. But, he said, the more time that goes by, the harder it will be for the courts to prosecute the Rasheed case. He added that the lapse in time allows perpetrators and their supporters to try to influence witnesses and judges.
Rilwan’s brother, Moosa, was less optimistic. He said he believes the key is to prosecute those in authority who were complicit and negligent.
The acting police commissioner, Hameed, said, “It’s quite evident that police hadn’t treated Rilwan’s case as a serious case from the start and that it was not carried out in a timely way.”
However, the commission president Suood said that without the investigative powers requested in parliament, its power will be limited.
Suood said he anticipates challenges and pushback, including threats from gangs and people complicit who are still in positions of power. “There will be a lot of challenges in that respect, because this is a small place and one is connected to several others who are influential and who are in power,” Suood said. “It will be difficult if we don’t get that legislation passed.”
[Reporting in Malé]
]]>The fine is the fourth the commission, whose members are appointed by the president and approved by parliament, has imposed on the station since March 2017 and comes ahead of presidential elections scheduled for September 23. In a statement, Raajje TV said that the fine did not have legal standing.
“The exorbitant and repeated fines against Raajje TV are clearly intended to cripple the TV station and amounts to a direct attack on what’s left of press freedom in the Maldives,” said Steven Butler, CPJ Asia Program Coordinator. “The only conclusion is that President Abdulla Yameen Abdulla Gayoom is afraid the electorate won’t choose him if it has a chance to hear critical coverage and opposing views.”
The station can appeal after it pays the fine. The previous three fines totaled 1.7 million Maldivian rufiyaa (US$110,408), and the appeals are still pending, according to the Raajje statement. CPJ has previously documented how the repeated defamation fines against Raajje TV appear to be politically motivated and an attempt to shut down critical reporting.
]]>